1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a drawing apparatus, a drawing program, a recording medium and a drawing method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, a so-called ‘file system’ is wide used as a measure to manage data stored in a storage device or such. A library or such included in a process in an apparatus employing the file system obtains data from the storage device or such by means of the file system. In a common way, such a file system is provided as one of functions of an OS (operation system).
First, a concept of a process and a library such as those are described with reference to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 illustrates the concept of the process and the library.
As shown, it is assumed that a plurality of different user processes (user processes A, B and C) are provided. In such a configuration, identical libraries (programs) are disposed for the different user processes respectively in a common virtual space. Such a library may be, for example, a library for character input/output, a library for calculation, a library for operation part, or such.
With reference to FIG. 2, one example of operation of such a library for an operation part is described next. FIG. 2 shows a flow chart illustrating operation of a library for an operation part (actually, an operation panel accompanying an image forming apparatus, or such).
For example, a program for an operation part performing drawing a message or such on a display device or such determines a type of a library function to call in Step S1. For example, when it is determined that a ‘frame’ is to be drawn on the display device or such (a branch (1) in Step S1), a library function for frame drawing is called, and then, Step S2 is performed. On the other hand, when it is determined that a ‘character’ is to be drawn (a branch (2) in Step S1), a library function for character drawing is called, and then, Step S5 is performed. On the other hand, when it is determined that a ‘button’ is to be drawn (a branch (3) in Step S1), a library function for button drawing is called, and then, Step S8 is performed.
In the above-mentioned processing, for example, the program for the operation part (such as an operation panel of an image forming apparatus or such, for example, as mentioned above) determines a type of a library function to call, according to a parameter or such given as an argument.
In Step S2, the library function for frame drawing selects a frame drawing file such as ‘/lib/opc.frame.obj’, ‘/lib/opc.frame_bold.obj’, or such (data for drawing), by means of the file system.
Then, in Step S3, the library function for frame drawing reads data for frame drawing from the thus-selected frame drawing file by means of the file system.
Then, in Step S4, the library function for frame drawing performs reading/writing of the data for frame drawing to a device driver of the operation part. Then, Step S11 is performed.
In Step S5, the library function for character drawing selects a character drawing file such as ‘/lib/opc.font.obj’, ‘/lib/opc.font_japan.obj’, ‘/lib/opc.font_korea.obj’ or such (data for drawing), by means of the file system.
Then, in Step S6, the library function for character drawing reads data for character drawing from the thus-selected character drawing file by means of the file system.
Then, in Step S7, the library function for character drawing performs reading/writing of the data for character drawing to the device driver of the operation part. Then, Step S11 is performed.
In Step S8, the library function for button drawing selects a button drawing file such as ‘/lib/opc.button.obj’, or such (data for drawing), by means of the file system.
Then, in Step S9, the library function for button drawing reads data for button drawing from the thus-selected button drawing file by means of the file system.
Then, in Step S10, the library function for button drawing performs reading/writing of the data for button drawing to the device driver of the operation part. Then, Step S11 is performed.
In Step S11, the device driver of the operation part actually performs drawing of a frame, a character or a button on the display device of the operation part according to the relevant data for drawing.
FIG. 3 illustrates the example of operation of the library described above with reference to FIG. 2 in a form of a functional block diagram.
The function block diagram shown in FIG. 3 shows a functional block configuration of an apparatus which employs the file system, such as an image forming apparatus, a common personal computer (simply referred to as a PC, hereinafter) or such.
The apparatus shown includes a user program (user process), a data space (memory space), and an OS. The OS includes the device driver and the file system.
As indicated by arrows (1) and (2) in FIG. 3, the library (library function) included in the user program accesses the data for drawing included in the data space via the file system. Further, as indicated by arrows (3) and (4), the library thus obtains the data for drawing from the data space via the file system.
Further, as indicated by an arrow (5), the library performs reading/writing of the data for drawing thus obtained from the data space to the device driver. Then, as indicated by an arrow (6), the device driver provides the data for drawing to an operation part device, and the operation part device performs drawing based on the thus-provided data for drawing (actually, for example, performs drawing or a message or such on a display device of the operation panel of the image forming apparatus, on a display device of the PC or such).
As described above with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3, the library in the process in the apparatus employing the file system obtains the data for drawing via the file system, and performs drawing based thereon. The ‘data for drawing’ is data, such that a message or such is drawn on a display device or such based thereon. FIGS. 17A and 17B, described later, are typical examples of the data for drawing.
With reference to FIG. 4, one example of starting up operation performed after a power supply is turned on in the image forming apparatus, the PC or such is described. FIG. 4 shows a flow chart illustrating one example of starting up operation performed after a power supply is turned on in the apparatus.
When a power supply is turned on in the image forming apparatus, the PC or such, a CPU in the apparatus starts operation in Step S20. The CPU thus starting operation starts processing according to an initialization program or such. For the purpose of simplification of description, description is made as if a program itself performs processing hereinafter.
Then, in Step S21, for example, the initialization program initializes hardware in the apparatus such as the image forming apparatus or the PC.
Then, in Step S22, for example, a diagnosis program or such included in the initialization program performs diagnosis as to whether or not initialization of the hardware has been properly completed. When the diagnosis program determines that initialization of the hardware has been properly completed (Yes in Step S22), Step S24 is performed. On the other hand, when the diagnosis program determines that initialization of the hardware has not been properly completed (No in Step S22), Step S23 is performed.
In Step S23, a drawing program included in the initialization program performs display of a diagnosis error message or such on a screen (of a display device) of the apparatus such as the image forming apparatus or the PC. Then, the initialization program and so forth finishes the current processing.
On the other hand, in Step S24, the initialization program starts up an OS starting up program, and the OS starting up program starts up the OS itself. After that, in Step S25, the OS starting up program starts up an application starting up program, and the application starting up program starts up an application itself.
Thus, the library (program) in the application thus started up enters a condition such as to be able to obtain the data for drawing from the data space or such via the file system included in the OS. However, in a case where the initialization error message or such is to be displayed as mentioned above before the OS is actually started up as in Step S23, it is not possible to actually perform drawing of such an initialization error message on the screen of the apparatus since the file system included in the OS has not been started up in Step S23 of FIG. 4.
In order to solve such a problem, a program itself which needs to perform drawing a message or such may previously have data for drawing inside thereof independently, and, with the use thereof, the program can perform drawing a message or such without using the file system.
With reference to FIG. 5, such a method of performing drawing a message or such without using the file system is described next. FIG. 5 shows a flow chart illustrating a method of performing drawing without using the file system.
For example, a drawing program included in an initialization program or such obtains data for drawing held inside thereof in Step S30.
Then, in Step S31, the drawing program performs drawing of a message or such based on the data for drawing obtained in Step S30.
Alternatively, it is also possible to display a message or such before an OS is started up in such a manner in which a display device is started up before the OS is properly started up, and data for drawing previously held inside of the display device itself is used for drawing the message or such on the display device.